#poor bashing

[teapartycat]

My favorite Bible story was that time Jesus deported all the Samaritans, blessed the rich, and then lectured the poor for being lazy.

[teapartycat]

Scott Walker: “My plan will force every welfare recipient to take a drug test. Daily. And then cut their benefits anyway. That’ll show ‘em!”

[teapartycat]

New Kansas law requires that poor people sing at least 3 verses of the blues before they can buy milk for their kids with food stamps.

[teapartycat]

Scott Walker: "I will be drug testing everyone who receives unemployment. It's a lot easier than creating jobs in the state."

Story:

Scott Walker’s Cynical New Plan To Drug Test Everyone Who Receives Unemployment Or Food Stamps

[teapartycat]

Erick Erickson: "If you’re making minimum wage you've probably failed at life, which I always point out to the cashier at McDonalds."

Story:

Erick Erickson: If You're Earning Minimum Wage In Your 30s, You 'Failed At Life'

[deeannmarie]

“I’m not judgmental, but,” he began — a phrase which, like “I’m not a racist, but” or “I’m not homophobic, but” is a surefire indication that the clause to follow will prove the first clause false. This was certainly true in Oliver’s case; he went on to say: “I’ve spent a lot of time in poor communities, and I find it quite hard to talk about modern-day poverty. You might remember that scene in [Oliver’s previous TV series] Ministry of Food, with the mum and the kid eating chips and cheese out of Styrofoam containers, and behind them is a massive f**king TV. It just didn’t weigh up” … I just want to hug them and teleport them to the Sicilian street cleaner who has 25 mussels, 10 cherry tomatoes, and a packet of spaghetti for 60 pence, and knocks out the most amazing pasta. You go to Italy or Spain and they eat well on not much money. We’ve missed out on that in Britain, somehow.” 

  Perhaps the best rebuttal to Oliver’s contemptuous generalization came from the Guardian’s Alex Andreou, who writes that he has lived “in affluent and destitute circumstances — and every shade between the two,” and blasts Oliver’s poverty tourism. Andreou’s explanation of the psychology of poverty is illuminating:

“What I had not understood before I found myself in true poverty, and what Oliver probably does not, is that it means living in a world of ‘no.’ Ninety-nine per cent of what you need is answered ‘no.’ Ninety-nine per cent of what your kids ask for is answered ‘no.’ Ninety-nine per cent of life is answered ‘no.’ Cinema? No. Night out? No. New shoes? No. Birthday? No. So, if the only indulgence that is viable, that is within budget, that will not mean you have to walk to work, is a Styrofoam container of cheesy chips, the answer is a thunderous ‘YES.’ ”